Thursday, May 21, 2009

NZ hunts accidental millionaires: "Police in New Zealand are searching for a couple who disappeared after a banking blunder deposited NZ$10m (£3.9m, US$6m) in their account.

The couple had applied for a NZ$10,000 overdraft but received NZ$10m in their business account instead, part of which they withdrew, local media report.

They are said to have run a service station in Rotorua, North Island.

Police believe the couple have left the country and Interpol has been alerted for assistance.

The deposit was made by the Australian bank Westpac, which has about 10 million customers.

Police said that part of the money had been recovered, without specifying the amount.

"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand and police [are] working through Interpol to locate those individuals," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of New Zealand Police.

"Westpac Bank has recovered some of the money which had been inappropriately withdrawn."

Westpac media relations manager Craig Dowling said the bank was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover a sum of money stolen".

Adding that the incident had prompted a review of how it had occurred, he said he would not comment on the specifics of the case due to the police investigation and court actions requiring confidentiality."

Sometimes Ninjas just suddenly disappear off on some mysterious mission. For this I apologize to all my readers. The blog was sacrificed to the mission. However, this Ninja has almost completed his mission and is nearly ready to share the details. A few more loose ends need to be tied up first...

I disappeared to do battle with legions of demon lawyers, accountants, investors and bankers. This will result in an endless supply of interesting and practical material for the blog that I hope will more than make up for my absence.

PS: Errr... just to clarify, rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated. I did not "get my head ripped off in this crap rally" or commit suicide as was speculated in some of the comments. My stops simply went off, one after another as equities went parabolic.

Disclaimer

The Financial Ninja is a collection of my thoughts and opinions about current economic and market conditions. These are not buy and sell recommendations. Use your head and do your own research. This is a forum to stimulate discussion and debate.

About Me

I started trading during the tech bubble when I was still in high school. My trading has financed my education and I have since completed a BA in Economics and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. I have worked as both a proprietary equity and fixed income derivatives trader.